Sous Le Ciel De Paris
by CUtopia
Summary: Charlie explores Paris and finds out that the city has many secrets...


Entry for the _Wand Writing Competition_

You will be writing a romance fic about Charlie Weasley that takes place in a Muggle setting.

Entry for the _Greek Mythology Competition_

 **Sirens:** Write about temptation.

Entry for the _Gringotts Prompt Bank_

Thanks a lot to Rose and FF, my fellow Wanderers, who helped with this! :)

'Sous Le Ciel De Paris' is a song sung by Edith Piaf, and I listened to it while writing :)

(2650 Words)

* * *

 **Sous Le Ciel De Paris**

* * *

 _Paris is always a good idea._

Audrey Hepburn

* * *

Fluffy white clouds were slowly passing over the blue sky above the Eiffel Tower that gleamed in the still strong autumn sun. The colourful leaves of the trees standing close formed a beautiful frame for the structure, and Charlie Weasley stopped for a moment to admire the sight. Groups of tourists wandered past him, and he had to cleave through them as he continued to walk in the opposite direction. The rays of the sun were tickling his skin and warmed him so much that he opened his brown coat.

He was in Paris for an international dragon symposium, representing the sanctuary in Romania he was working for, and he'd decided to skip the afternoon activity to explore the muggle part of the city. Even though he'd been in Paris for two days now, he'd barely left the hotel as he'd been occupied with discussion and organisation panels that had the task to plan the transport of the dragons to the Triwizard Tournament. Only a few times he'd been to the wizarding shopping street close to the Champs Elysée, and he had the feeling that he would regret it if he didn't have a look around Paris for at least one afternoon.

And so he'd grabbed a map of the city and some muggle money and had left the hotel, taking the Metro to some of the recommended tourist attractions. It was a beautiful city with its old, pulsing of life, and he saw many interesting people. The muggle fashion seemed to be even more adventurous here than it was in London. Street musicians, tourists, business women and men, mobile food sellers and hawkers filled the streets, and he walked right through this mass of people, blending into the crowd.

His legs carried him into a side-street, and after only a few meters, he spotted a small café that still had tables outside. Stopping in front of it, he saw all the delicious pastries through the window and a gut feeling told him that it was time to rest and drink a cup of coffee.

Most of the tables were in the sun, and he chose one that was facing the Eiffel Tower, leaning back with a contented sigh while holding his face into the warm light. He loved autumn, and it seemed like Paris was a city that was made to embrace this season when it showed itself from its best side. The old buildings, the vintage streetlamps, and the trees seemed to have been dipped into all kinds of colours to impress the people that wandered between them.

Chansons were playing from some radio in the café, and the waitress seemed to be in a very good mood as she came outside to ask him for his order. After some difficulties – Charlie didn't speak a single word of French – he managed to order a coffee and an assortment of all the delicious pastries that the waitress called 'petit four'. Minutes later, his order arrived, and he could feel the drool collect in his mouth at the sight of the tiny delicacies.

He just wanted to have a taste as he was distracted by something – he saw an angel walking down the street.

An angel wearing a knee-length, black pencil skirt, and a white blouse with small ruffles tucked into it. A burgundy coat, blue and white striped heels, a black clutch and a matching beret completed the look that made her blend into the picture of the Parisian girl perfectly. Blonde locks were falling over her shoulders and as her blue eyes met his for a brief second, a pleasant tingle ran down his spine.

Her deep red lips curled into a soft smile as she sat down at the table next to him, her flowery perfume invading his senses, and he felt a little bit pathetic as he smiled back. A beautiful girl like her could never fall for someone like him; in comparison to her and all the other men on the street, he looked like a tramp with his slightly ripped jeans, the worn black boots, the ruffled hair and his earring.

The waitress appeared, and he couldn't help but listen as the beauty said: "Bonjour, madame, je voudrais un café au lait et un croissant, s'il vous plaît. Merci."

Charlie felt like she was saying incantations to draw him in; the words were leaving her beautiful lips so softly, and he wished she wouldn't stop talking. As soon as the waitress went inside, the beautiful woman looked over at him, smiling at him again, meeting his dreamy gaze and making him twitch. He felt more than uncomfortable about having been caught staring at her, and he quickly looked down at his coffee, trying to hide a blush.

"Excuse moi? Puis je m'asseoir avec vous, monsieur?"

It was as if he was struck by lightning as he looked up, right into the blue eyes of the beauty. She'd stood up and come over, her expression questioning, and he had no idea what she'd just said. His mouth opened and closed, gaping for air like a fish on land while he tried to think of anything to say.

"Vous parlez le français?"

"Uh... non," he managed to force out, this probably being the only question in French that he could recognise without any problems. Thinking for a moment, he added clumsily: "Anglais."

"Ah... excuse me, may I sit down?" she asked, speaking with the cutest accent he'd ever heard, and his heart jumped as he nodded and she immediately took a seat. "Je m'appelle Fleur. Oh, sorry, my Inglish, c'est horrible. I'm Fleur."

"I'm Charles... uh, Charlie. It's a pleasure to meet you, Fleur. I think your English sounds very good, really," Charlie introduced himself, hoping that she hadn't caught his full name, though her smile made him forget a little bit how much he disliked his given name.

"Charles," Fleur repeated, and Charlie felt a little bit embarrassed about the fact that the way she said his name made a tingle run down his spin directly into his groin. Since when was he so hormone-driven? Normally it wasn't his style, but her voice alone made him feel an amount of temptation he definitely wasn't used to. Her voice and her accent were so sensual...

The loud noise of Fleur's coffee and croissant being placed in front of her ripped him from his thoughts, and he tried to shove these less than gentleman-ish imaginations as far away as possible.

"So, Charles, why are you in Paris?" Fleur asked before taking a sip from her coffee, looking him into the eyes while speaking.

"A symposium, I'm... I'm something like a dra..."

He slapped himself inwardly – he'd nearly said the words 'dragon expert' and breaking the Statute of Secrecy hadn't been exactly his plan for the day. Thinking quickly, he was able to remember the things he'd learned about muggle occupations in Muggle Studies and masked the moment of silence with a cough before he answered: "I'm a biologist, and I decided to take the rest of the day off to explore the city a bit."

"Interesting, and a good choice, je pense," Fleur smiled, and Charlie was relieved to see that she didn't seem to have caught his little slip of tongue. "Paris is a beautiful city, wiz many secret places. I grew up 'ere."

Before Charlie knew what he was doing, a question slipped from his mouth. "Would you show me your favourite places?"

"Naturellement, Charles!" Her smile was blinding, and she looked excited as she ripped a piece from her croissant and ate it, licking her fingers and making Charlie gulp.

"So, uh, and what are you doing, except for living here?" He asked quickly, realising that he'd been damn close to only talking about himself, something his mother had always taught him to be rude.

"I go to school at Beauxbatons, it's a… ah, boarding school is ze word."

Charlie nearly choked at the bite that he had in his mouth; he hadn't expected this answer at all, and he needed a moment to realise what it meant. Turning his head to look if anybody was close enough to listen, he leaned over the table and whispered: "You're a witch?"

For a short moment, surprise flickered in her blue eyes, then she grinned, mumbling back: "Oh, quelle surprise… Ze world is a very small place, isn't it? I'll be going to Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament in October."

"Wow, really?" He nearly gasped, wondering how big the odds were for two people to meet in a street and have so many connections. Coincidences were a funny thing, he thought.

"Oui. I'm so excited."

She sipped her coffee, beaming at him, and Charlie, feeling a little bit less relaxed because he was curious where she would lead him, hurried to empty his plate and drink his coffee, nearly burning his tongue.

A few minutes later, they paid and left, Charlie following her down the street and to the next Metro station. From time to time, his gaze flickered down to her glorious legs, and he had to slap himself back into reality. It wasn't friendly to stare at a lady, and he didn't like the thought to appear like a pervert.

While they were riding in the train, he felt oddly at home; though he barely understood anything of the things the people around them were saying, it was as if he was one of them, just a normal man on his way somewhere. After a few stations, they got off and walked through the tunnel that led towards the surface, swimming in the stream of people, until Fleur grabbed him by the arm and pulled him sideways, down a staircase that had been blocked with a sign that probably said 'No Entry'.

The stairs were steep and looked old, as if millions of feet had walked up and down, and with every step, the air seemed to be getting more humid.

"Where are we going?" he asked, feeling a little bit uneasy; the walls were narrowing, and he didn't particularly liked that. He was a person that preferred to be in the nature, where meadows were so wide and nothing was holding him back.

"You're going to like it," she answered, turning around briefly and giving him a reassuring smile, her hand gently taking his. As their skin touched, it was as if electricity was shooting up his arm, making every hair stand up.

Charlie had no idea for how long they'd been walking until the stairs ended in a large, masoned cavern, a channel in its middle. Murky, dirty water was running in that channel, and an unpleasant smell filled the air. Fleur's eyes were glimmering in excitement, and Charlie found that she looked a little bit out of place. She was a beautiful woman that was wearing exclusive clothes, and here she stood, looking glad about being in a place like this.

"Where are we?"

"Zis are ze sewers of Paris. Zey were built in ze 13th century, and as you can imagine, over ze centuries many groups found zem to be very useful," Fleur explained, suddenly slipping out of her heels and stuffing them into her handbag, which she slung around her with a longer strap. Charlie blinked a few times as she bound her luscious curls together with a ribbon, grinning while she offered him her hand.

"Up for a real adventure?"

For a split second, he considered to decline and walk the stairs up again, towards the sunlight, but then, he also was a man who liked adventures and risky plans. You had to be a little bit reckless to work with dragons, and he supposed that this couldn't be any more dangerous.

"Okay," he responded, grinning back and grabbing the hand she offered him, letting her pull him along.

A narrow stone bridge led to the other side of the channel, and while they balanced over it, Fleur looking incredibly graceful while doing it, she said: "It's incroyable what ze Muggles were able to build back then, wizout magic or ze technology zey have today. And when zey started the witch hunts, numerous people fled down here. Ze constructors did build secret rooms to hide in. Nobody ever found zem after zey weren't needed anymore."

"You mean, except for you?" Charlie smirked at the back of her head, and she chuckled, nodding faintly.

"Wiz magic, everyzing is possible. You're going to like it."

They squeezed themselves through a maze of tunnels with low ceilings and waded through water, Charlie wondering how Fleur was able to turn from the classy, sophisticated Parisian lady to the adventurous woman that wasn't afraid of a little bit dirt. He had to admit that he liked that, and that it made him feel that bit more drawn towards her. She was literally a surprise package – the outward appearance made him think of one thing, but upon opening it, something completely different revealed itself.

After some time, they reached a tunnel that didn't look different to the others, but still, Fleur stopped and looked at the wall in front of them for a moment before confidently pushing her hand against one of the bricks. To Charlie's surprise, it did glide back into the wall, and something made a clicking noise. A moment later, a passage opened in the wall only a few steps to their right, just broad enough for a human to get through.

"Zat's zeir kind of magic. Maybe not so impressive for us, but when you consider zat zey don't have ze same abilities, it's nearly a small wonder zat ze Muggles are able to build all of zis," Fleur said before gliding through the passage sideways, elegantly dodging the cobwebs into which Charlie ran as he followed her.

His jaw dropped as they entered the room that lay at the end of the passage; Fleur waved her wand and candles were lit, illuminating the old wood panels at the walls, which were artfully decorated with ornates. Furniture from many centuries ago stood there, looking as good as new, and there was a giant bookcase at the far wall. The countless candles and their warm light nearly made him forget that the room didn't have any windows, and Fleur grinned, stating: "Seems like you like it."

"That's really not what I expected. Wow… and... and you are also not what I expected," Charlie babbled, and blushed as he saw her cocked eyebrow. She slowly walked over, and her fingertips were lightly wandering over his chest, leaving a trail of prickling skin behind.

Gulping hard, his gaze wandered down to her lips, and as he looked up into her eyes again, they were gleaming alluringly.

"I've never showed anyone zis place before," she whispered with a smirk and opened her hair, causing Charlie's heart to beat faster. Everything about her seemed so tempting; her lips, her hair, her eyes… And the way she was looking at him told him that there seemed to be something about him that was just as desirable.

Before he knew it, her sweet, soft lips were on his, kissing him senseless, and he lost himself in the taste of coffee, milk, croissant, and something completely mysterious that seemed to be her.

A moan escaped him as she pushed him onto one of the chaise longues, and for a brief second he thought about how it had been a very good decision to go and explore Paris for one afternoon. It certainly had a lot of surprises at hand.


End file.
